


No Matter How Big the Sea May Be

by areyoukobrakiddingme



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), My Chemical Romance, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, I just really love pirates ok, M/M, Slow Burn, some violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-07 17:18:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7723096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/areyoukobrakiddingme/pseuds/areyoukobrakiddingme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cherri Cola, an ex-criminal turned merchant, is taken by pirates while sailing on one of Tommy Chow Mein's ships.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Matter How Big the Sea May Be

Sailing is exhausting. Sailing for months on end even more so. Cherri is beginning to miss being on land for more than a day or two at a time, and he’s getting sick of sleeping in a stuffy cabin every night. It doesn’t help that he is so isolated from the crew either. He is not really one of them.

He sighs and leans against the railing of the ship. At least this particular trip only has a few more weeks left. Then he will be able to take a break on land for a while. Maybe he’ll visit some of the cities neighboring his hometown that he’s never gotten around to seeing. He has heard that one of them has the best sunsets in the country. Cherri has always loved sunsets, as cliche as it is.

Sunrises, on the other hand, he can’t care less about. Sure they’re pretty, but they happen far too early in the day for them to be of any interest. The only reason he’s watching one right now is that it rained the night before, and the extra bustle of the crew on deck and rocking of the ship had kept him up all night. By the time it had stopped he was too stressed to sleep, so he decided to go above deck to get some fresh air.

The deck is still slick with water, but all other signs of the night’s rain are disappearing. The clouds are clearing up and the sun is starting to peek through as it crawls higher in the sky. Even the sea is smooth and calm now, save for the occasional ripple from a gentle breeze. It’s strange that just hours before it had been choppy and wild. 

Cherri stretches his arms and lets out a yawn. He scans the horizon lazily, wishing that the cook would wake up and make some coffee. Suddenly he notices a ship off in the distance.

“I wonder who that could be,” he mumbles and reaches for the small telescope he keeps attached to his belt. He rubs some of the tiredness from his eyes and looks through, curious. It takes him a minute to focus on the ship, but when he finally does, he feels his blood run cold.

Blowing menacingly in the breeze above the ship is a jolly roger. 

“Pirates!” he shouts, fear ridding him of his exhaustion. “Pirates on the port side!”

Panic breaks out on deck. Those who are already awake rush to wake the rest of the crew. People run left and right arming themselves in case they are boarded. Efforts are being made to outrun the fast approaching ship. If they are boarded, the least that will happen is losing all the cargo the merchant ship was transporting. They would lose any pay they would have received when their job was completed. At worst, they’ll all be killed in one way or another.

Needless to say, no one wants to deal with pirates.

The ship is quickly gaining. It is now close enough to see the name of the ship painted in bold letters: _Phoenix Witch_. As Cherri runs below deck to grab his sword, he hears several crew members shouting something about various parts of the ship being damaged from the storm the night before. It is becoming obvious that they aren’t going to be able to escape. 

When Cherri returns to the deck, the ship is so close that he can see a man with bright red hair standing at the bow of the ship.

“Prepare to be boarded!” he shouts, his grin now visible from Cherri’s ship. The pirates are sailing alongside them now, and he can see four of them, including the man from the bow, place wooden boards between the ships.

The crew of the merchant ship is determined not to be defeated by such a small band of pirates and charges loudly at them as they cross over. The redhead, he seems to be their captain, barrels right through the crew throwing punches and disarming several men skillfully with his sword. A small one with black hair pulled into a small, low ponytail slips past the crew with ease and runs toward the door to the lower decks followed by another with large curly hair and an eye patch. They are taking out as many men as their captain. Cherri loses sight of the fourth, a tall blonde man, in the commotion.

He unsheathes his sword and joins the fray. He tries to join the group that is going after the two trying to get below deck, but his path is blocked by the red haired man. 

“You’re not taking this ship,” Cherri shouts and charges the man. 

“Watch me,” he grins and easily blocks the blow from Cherri’s sword with his own.

The two are evenly matched. Cherri swipes at the man’s chest, but he dodges and counters with a jab at his stomach. He blocks the blow and tries to disarm his opponent by aiming for his wrist. Blocked. Every intended blow from either side is blocked or dodged. Both men are beginning to tire, and Cherri can see in his opponent’s eyes that he knows this is going nowhere.

Then, just as Cherri lunges at him, the man ducks. The blonde pirate he had lost track of leaps over him and swipes at Cherri with a knife. Caught off guard and thrown off balance, he can’t avoid the blow completely, and the pirate slices his arm. He cries out in pain and tries to get out of the way of another blow.

He isn’t able to move fast enough, and his new opponent swings a kick at him. Cherri lets out a small yelp as the blow lands on his chest.. He can see the redheaded pirate running off to fight the other crew members and curses. 

This isn’t going well.

His new opponent swipes at him again, this time managing to slice his cheek as he tries to dodge. The man is _fast_. Cherri lunges at him with his sword, ignoring the pain in his arm, but the pirate dodges and uses Cherri’s momentum against him and shoves him hard, causing him to slip on the wet deck. Cherri gasps as he feels the air get knocked out of him. His sword slides out of reach. As he wheezes for air and tries to push himself back up, the pirate runs at him and, knife in hand, but punches him hard in the face. Pain explodes across his cheek. The world starts to get fuzzy. Cherri tries to push himself up again to fight back only to be hit again. 

His mouth fills with the coppery taste of blood and he spits. He’s dizzy now, both from being punched and from the loss of blood from the wound on his arm. It must be deeper than he had assumed, and he can feel the warm blood soaking his shirt. 

The pirate is kneeling over him now, ready to punch him again if he doesn’t stay down. As a last ditch effort, Cherri shouts and kicks upwards at his chest. He makes contact with a heavy thud and an “oof” from the pirate. He quickly pushes himself up while he recovers from the blow. He sprints toward his sword.

His fingers are closing around the hilt when he feels the pirate jump onto his back and knock him down again. His chin hits the deck hard, and he starts to see spots. He swears he hears the man mutter an apology before he punches him again and he loses consciousness.

 ---

When Cherri wakes up, he can’t move his arms. It takes him a moment to get his bearings straight, but he realizes that he is sitting on the deck of the ship with his arms tied to the railing behind him. After quickly glancing to either side, he realizes the rest of the crew is in the same position, although he doubts that any of them have the same splitting headache. He probably has a concussion from being hit in the head so many times. His arm hurts as much as his head, and when he turns his head to look, he sees that the right side of his jacket and shirt are beginning to turn red with blood. He leans his head back against the railing and lets out a deep sigh. He just can’t get a break lately.

“Which one of you is the merchant working for Tommy Chow Mein?” a loud voice rings out. Cherri winces at the volume but looks up to see who spoke. The red haired pirate is standing in front of them waiting for answers. His long blue coat billows in the steadily increasing wind. The curly-haired one with the eye patch stands next to him, eyeing the crew warily. Behind them, the short one and the tall one are loading the ship’s cargo onto their own boat.

Then, a realization hits Cherri. The pirates are looking for _him_. Sure this is a merchant vessel, but the crew isn’t made of merchants. They had merely been hired to carry the cargo. Cherri is the merchant in charge of it. A feeling of panic tears through him, and he prays silently that the crew won’t give him away. 

“He’s right here!” the man next to him calls to the pirates and gestures toward Cherri with his head. “Just take him and leave us!” Cherri’s heart races as the pirate steps toward him. Of course the crew gave him away. It figures that they would put him in danger to take themselves out of it.

The pirates stop in front of him and look him over. The redhead smirks when he sees who he is.

“I’ve never seen a merchant fight like you,” he says as he cuts him free from the railing, pulls him to his feet, and re-ties his hands behind his back. “I’m impressed.” He shoves him toward his ship. Cherri’s hands are shaking. He’s being kidnapped by pirates. This can’t be happening. _This can’t be happening_.

“Hey Poison! We’re done loading the ship!” the tall blond pirate calls from the _Phoenix Witch_. “We’re ready to go!” Cherri looks at him as he is forced over the boards between the two boats. He is the one who had taken him down, and looking at him now, he can’t believe it. The man is tall but scrawny. He isn’t wearing any shoes, and his hair sticks out at odd angles from under a spotted yellow headband. He is not a very intimidating man.

Poison, the captain, and the short man remove the boards from between the ships and call for the tall pirate to get the ship moving. Cherri almost falls when it lurches forward but is caught by the one with the curly hair. 

“Sorry, but you’ve got to come with me,” he says. He grabs Cherri’s bicep and pulls him toward the door to the lower decks. Cherri follows, anxiety rising in his chest as he watches his ship get further and further away. “I’m Jet Star,” the pirate says as he leads him through the ship. “I’ll be bringing you food later, so don’t worry.” This confuses Cherri. Don’t pirates normally want their captives to worry? People who are on edge tend to be easier to manipulate.

“U-um… Cherri Cola,” he offers as Jet Star leads him into the brig. When he sees the bars of the cell, his heart rate increases. _Oh god not again_. No, he needs to calm down. This isn't the same as before. He takes in a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself.

“Hey, are you alright?” Jet Star asks. “You went really pale there for a second.”

“Yeah, yeah I'm fine,” Cherri answers. “or at least as fine as you can be when you've been captured by pirates.” Jet Star chuckles at that.

“Yeah sorry about that. It's what we do.” then he seems to notice all the blood covering Cherri’s right side. “Oh wow, that's a lot of blood. That's probably why you went pale. You're bleeding everywhere!” He has Cherri sit down in the cell, removes his belt that holds his weapons, and closes the door. “I'll be right back with Kobra, hang in there,” he says and rushes out of the room. Cherri leans back against the wall, arms still bound behind him.  
Now alone, he focuses on calming himself and realizes how tired he is. He hadn't slept the night before, he had just fought pirates, and he is still bleeding a lot from it. He feels himself starting to doze off just as the door to the brig opens, startling him awake. 

The tall pirate, who he assumes is Kobra, enters. He is holding a box of medical supplies. His face pales at the sight of all the blood, but he rushes to unlock the cell door and get inside. He kneels down next to Cherri.

“I- uh… sorry about that,” he gestures awkwardly to the wound that he had inflicted. He has Cherri sit up and cuts the ropes binding his arms. “I'm gonna cut off your sleeve and clean the wound, ok?” Cherri nods, still wary of the man who had beaten him so viciously in a fight.

Kobra sits down next to Cherri and gently grabs his arm. He pulls a knife from his pile of medical supplies and begins to carefully remove the sleeves from his jacket and shirt. When he pulls them off he winces. The wound is pretty deep, and a slow trickle of blood is still coming from it. 

Cherri watches dazedly as Kobra begins to clean the wound. He works nimbly and with ease as he washes away the blood and begins to disinfect the area. Cherri hisses in pain as the alcohol soaked rag touches the cut.

“Sorry, sorry…” Kobra mumbles absentmindedly as he continues cleaning. He is completely focused on his task, mouthing words to himself as he works.

“Why did you take me and leave the rest of the crew?” Cherri asks abruptly. Kobra jolts, startled by the sudden question. He grasps for words for a moment before answering.

“You have a connection to Tommy Chow Mein that we need,” he says. He begins to thread a needle for stitches.

“What do you need- ah!” Cherri cries out as Kobra begins stitching up the wound. “W-what do you need my connection to him for?” He closes his eyes and grits his teeth as the the needle goes in and out of his skin.

“I don’t think I’m allowed to tell you that,” Kobra said. He finishes off the stitches and reaches into his box for bandages.

“Why not?”

“I’m not in charge.” He shrugs and finishes bandaging Cherri’s arm. “There, that should be good for now,” he says and wipes his hands on a rag. “I’ll, uh, find you a new shirt later. I kinda wrecked this one.” He packs up his supplies and exits the room, leaving Cherri alone in his cell.

“I can’t believe this,” he sighs and sinks back against the wall. It figures that he would be captured by pirates and it figures that they would be the strangest pirates known to man. It’s just his luck. And why were Jet Star and Kobra so nice to him? He has heard that pirates are ruthless to their prisoners, and based on his experience with other types of criminals, he has always believed it. He runs his hands over his face and then through his hair. It had fallen out of its ponytail during all the craziness of the day. “It’s not even noon.” He closes his eyes and lets out a sigh. “It’s not even freaking noon.”

Within the next few minutes, his exhaustion overtakes him, and he falls asleep, slumped against the wall of the cell.

\--- 

Cherri is awakened by water splashing over him. He gasps and pushes himself off the floor.

“What the-”

“Wakey, wakey, sleeping beauty,” jeers the short, black haired pirate standing over him. He holds a now empty bucket in his hands. “Captain wants to see you.”

“What?” he is frazzled from being woken so roughly. He pushes his now soaked hair out of his eyes.

“Party Poison wants to ask you some questions.” So that’s the captain’s full name. Party Poison. “Oh, and here. Kobra said to give this to you.” He tosses an old white shirt to him. “You can change now. Your clothes are disgusting.”

Cherri looks down at himself. They really are disgusting. One sleeve is missing from both his jacket and shirt, and what was left of them is covered in dried blood and sweat. They are starting to smell too. 

“Uh thanks,” Cherri picks up the shirt. The pirate doesn’t move. “Could you... um turn around or something?” He raises an eyebrow but then shrugs and turns around. Cherri carefully starts to pull of his jacket, trying not to move his injured arm too much. He notices that someone has changed the bandages while he was sleeping. He unbuttons his vest (which has somehow, but thankfully, not gotten any blood on it) and pulls off his shirt, wincing as he pulls it over his head. He slips the clean shirt on and puts the vest back on, not bothering to button it back up.

“Are you done yet?” 

“Yeah,” he replies. The pirate turns around and grabs Cherri’s wrists.

“Party doesn’t want to take any chances on you attacking him,” he explains as he pulls a rope from his belt and ties his wrists behind him again. Cherri lets out a frustrated “hmm” and then they’re moving. He feels his wound from the movement, a warm trickle of blood going down his arm.The piratel leads him through the ship up onto the main deck. The sun is setting, illuminating the ship in gold. Had he really slept that long?

Party Poison is waiting there, arms crossed, a look of impatience his face and fingers drumming anxiously on his arm. Cherri swallows nervously. He also notices Kobra sitting on top of a barrel nearby whittling a piece of wood with a knife. Standing next to him is Jet Star, both watching intently. He is pushed to his knees in front of the captain. 

“What do you know about Tommy Chow Mein’s smuggling business?” Poison asks, getting right to the point. The anxiety in his stare increases momentarily, and Cherri can’t help but wonder what is causing it.

“Nothing. He’s not a smuggler,” he lies. Of course he knows about Tom’s smuggling. He took Cherri in at a low point in his life, and the two have become close friends since then. He just wants to protect him from the pirates. Poison squats down in front of him and grabs his chin.

“Don’t lie to us,” he snarls. Cherri feels his heart skip a beat.Who knows what horrible things these pirates will do to him if he doesn’t cooperate. But he can’t put Tom in danger. He clenches his jaw and stays silent. Party Poison lets out a frustrated sigh. “What ship does he use, and where is it headed right now?”

“Why is it so important to you?” Cherri can’t help but ask.

“That’s none of your business!” the short one growls from behind him.

“Ghoul,” Poison starts. “Maybe if he knows it’ll convince him to tell us.” He lets go of Cherri’s chin and stands back up. Ghoul huffs indignantly. “We have information from a reliable source that tells us Tommy Chow Mein is smuggling people for the queen.”

“What?” Cherri is stunned. Tom would never do something like that, would he? He hates the queen as much as the next man, and he hates slavery even more. Right? Now that he thinks about it, he doesn’t actually know _what_ he’s been smuggling all these years. It can’t be people, can it?

“We have word that he’s taken a friend of ours, and we plan on getting him back,” Poison says angrily. “So we would like it if you would stop pretending you don’t know anything,” he adds, venom in his voice. Cherri ponders his options for a moment. He decides he wants to get to the bottom of this. 

“I’ll tell you what you want to know if you make me a deal,” he says after a moment. He hears Ghoul let out an exasperated “Really?” and Kobra stops whittling, his interest piqued. He swears he sees the corner of Poison’s mouth twitch upward for a moment. 

“Oh? And what would that be?” he asks. Cherri takes a deep breath. If he is careful, he could get out of this unscathed (save for the injuries he received in the fight) and find the truth about Tom.

“You have to take me with you when you board the ship, and you have to do it discreetly at night. No killing and nothing like what you caused earlier today,” he says firmly. None of the pirates say anything for a moment, and Cherri is afraid that they won’t take the deal and will just force the information out of him. Memories of the prisons in his hometown surface for a moment as the thought of torture crosses his mind. He brushes the thoughts away. _You’re going to be fine. They don’t seem to be cruel pirates_ , he assures himself.

“Deal,” Poison says, startling Cherri out of his thoughts. “Now tell us everything you know.” Cherri lets out a sigh of relief. He has a chance now. If all goes well, he can make it out of this alright.

“Tom’s smuggling boat is the boat he travels on. He doesn’t trust anyone else to take care of whatever it is he’s transporting,” Cherri explains. “If I remember correctly, it should be halfway to Thisbe about now.” He notices Party Poison react to hearing the name Thisbe. He must have a connection to the town. “The ship is the _Fortuna_.”

“In that case, we’ll intercept them on the way to Thisbe,” Poison nods. “Take him back to the brig for now,” he adds, the statement directed at Ghoul. He turns and walks away, and Ghoul pulls Cherri to his feet. 

“Let’s go,” he says, and steers him back inside the ship. This times, Cherri notices several rooms as they pass through the ship. Through the open door of one, he sees a small painting hanging on the wall of the four pirates smiling next to a young girl with big hair. Such a pleasant painting seems out of place on a pirate ship. He wonders who the girl could be as they reach the brig. 

Ghoul pulls a knife from his belt and frees Cherri’s arms before pushing him back into the cell. 

“You’d better not double cross our captain,” Ghoul says as he locks the cell door. “I’ll be watching you carefully when we get to Thisbe.”  
“And _I’ll_ be watching _you_ ,” Cherri says boldly. “I don’t want you to mess with our deal either.” Ghoul hadn’t been expecting that. He snorts and begins to leave.

“You’re a feisty one,” he says with a laugh and exits the room just as Jet Star and Kobra enter. Jet is carrying a tray of food.

“We brought you some dinner,” Jet Star says as he slides the tray through the slot in the cell door. “It’s probably cold by now, but it’s food all the same.” Cherri takes it gratefully, realizing that he hasn’t eaten since dinner the previous night. He sits down against the wall and begins to eat. It’s just some sort of fish and a piece of hardtack, but it’s delicious after not eating for so long. Kobra leans against the bars, resting his arms on the horizontal ones..

“I’m sorry about how my brother,” he says after a few moments. “He gets kind of aggressive when he’s anxious.” 

“Party Poison is your brother?!” Cherri almost chokes and has to take several sips of water to stop coughing. Kobra is so calm compared to the captain. They don’t seem alike at all.

“Yeah, and again, I’m really sorry about all that on deck. He’s very upset about our missing friend,” Kobra apologizes again. 

“Um, thanks,” Cherri is confused by Kobra. Why is he apologizing for the actions of his brother? Why is he apologizing at all? These pirates are strange. “I’m just glad he didn’t act like some of the pirates I’ve heard about,” he says nervously. “I was afraid he’d keelhaul me or something.” Kobra makes a disgusted face. Jet Star laughs.

“We’re not those kind of pirates,” he says. Kobra nods in agreement. “You really don’t have to worry about us all that much as long as you don’t get in the way of what we’re trying to do.” There was a touch of warning in his voice, but he remained smiling. Cherri was unsettled. 

“Why did you make that deal?” Kobra asks curiously. Cherri swallows the last bite of food and takes a moment to organize his thoughts.

“Tommy's my friend. I want to know the truth,” he says. Both pirates nod in approval.

“Here, I’ll take your tray,” Jet Star changes the subject. Cherri slides it through to him, and he takes it and leaves. Kobra stays. Cherri studies him. His hazel eyes are watching him, taking in every little detail. His pale, blond hair covers the shorter brown underneath. His shirt hangs off him loosely and has several patches and extra stitches. His midsection is covered by a red and black striped fabric, and his black pants stop below his knees. He wears no shoes, and his feet have several tiny scars.

“Why have you and Jet Star been so… not angry and mean?” Cherri asks, blanking on the words he was looking for. Kobra’s eyebrows furrowed at this.

“Because we’re just not angry and mean people I guess,” he replies, scratching his chin. “And you can just call him Jet,” he adds. “Calling us by our full names all the time gets kind of tedious after a while.” Cherri nods. “How’s your arm?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s fine. It still hurts, but I think everything is holding together,” Cherri answers, a bit thrown off by his concern. He had never expected to meet pirates like these. 

“Good. I’ll come back in the morning and change your bandages again, maybe rub some healing salve on it.” He steps away from the bars, cracks his back, and reaches for the lantern on the wall. “Well, uh, goodnight, I guess,” he says uncomfortably. He turns and walks out the door, taking the light with him.

Cherri is left alone again with his thoughts, this time in the pitch black of the night. He can feel anxiety rising in his chest. It scares him to think about how long he might have to stay on this ship as a prisoner. It made him restless to think of having to stay in this cramped room so far below deck for all that time. It made him curious to think of the pirates themselves. He shifted onto his back, arms behind his head.

They hadn’t thrown him overboard or gotten rid of him in some gruesome way once they got the information about Tommy’s ship out of him. It seemed like they were actually planning on following through with their deal. Poison and Ghoul didn’t seem to like him very much, although the latter seemed somewhat amused by him. Jet seemed to tolerate him and have no intent of antagonizing him. Kobra almost seemed fascinated by him, and Cherri was fascinated by Kobra. The man had cared for the wounds _he_ had caused and then apologized for the aggressive actions of his captain. 

_Because we’re just not angry and mean people I guess_ , his voice echoes in his mind. He feels his eyelids begin to droop. What a strange man. He remembers the ferocity with which Kobra had attacked him that morning. He had been like a completely different person standing in front of Cherri that evening. Not very pirate-like at all…

He falls asleep to thoughts of the strange blond pirate and the soft rocking of the ship.

**Author's Note:**

> Port: The left side of a ship  
> Brig: Where prisoners are held on a ship  
> Hardtack: A biscuit/cracker eaten by sailors, lasts for a long time
> 
> This is my first multi chapter fic, so let's see how this goes! I hope you like it!


End file.
